Ticket consolidation for multi-tiered applications

ABSTRACT

Consolidating problem tickets for a multi-tiered application may comprise identifying a plurality of correlated virtual machines that are running one or more application components of the multi-tiered application. Problem reports may be identified that are generated by one or more of the plurality of correlated virtual machines and caused by a failure of a same single component of the multi-tiered application. The identified problem reports may be consolidated into a single ticket and placed into a ticket handling system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/590,342 filed on Aug. 21, 2012, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present application relates generally to computers, and computerapplications, and more particularly to ticket consolidation formulti-tiered applications.

BACKGROUND

In a data center with virtual environment, or in an environment withtraditional physical servers, a system support or the like functionalitymonitors computing operations and generates tickets for events causingproblems to be resolved by system administrators. Usually, every openproblem ticket has to be handled by system administrators independentlyeven if that problem was resolved in the meantime. Such individualhandling costs time and effort.

In information technology (IT) management, enterprises are moving fromphysical servers toward virtualization, virtual machines (VMs) and cloudcomputing. Cloud computing generally refers to a model of servicedelivery for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a sharedpool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, networkbandwidth, servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtualmachines, and services). Cloud computing infrastructure may comprise ofa network of interconnected nodes. Virtual environment provided, forexample, via the cloud computing reduces cost through better resourceutilization, standardization and simplified maintenance. In strategicoutsourcing (SO) and cloud environment also, problem tickets are openedfor events causing problems, to be resolved by system administrators.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method of consolidating problem tickets for a multi-tieredapplication, in one aspect, may comprise identifying a plurality ofcorrelated virtual machines that are running one or more applicationcomponents of the multi-tiered application. The method may also compriseidentifying problem reports generated by one or more of the plurality ofcorrelated virtual machines and caused by a failure of a same singlecomponent of the multi-tiered application. The method may furthercomprise consolidating the identified problem reports into a singleticket. The method may further comprise placing the single ticket into aticket handling system.

A method of consolidating problem tickets for a multi-tieredapplication, in another aspect, may comprise identifying a plurality ofapplication components of the multi-tiered application. The method mayfurther comprise identifying problem reports generated by one or more ofthe plurality of application components of the multi-tiered applicationand caused by a failure of a same single component of the multi-tieredapplication. The method may also comprise consolidating the identifiedproblem reports into a single ticket.

A method of consolidating problem tickets for a multi-tieredapplication, yet in another aspect, may comprise identifying a pluralityof virtual machines that are correlated. The method may also comprisemonitoring operations of the plurality of virtual machines. The methodmay also comprise detecting a problem report generated from one or moreof the plurality of virtual machines. The method may further comprisedetermining whether a problem associated with the problem report existsas a problem entry associated with one or more of the plurality ofvirtual machines. The method may also comprise, in response todetermining that the problem associated with the problem report exists,determining whether a generation time of the problem report is within asensitivity time window with respect to the problem entry associated oneor more of the plurality of virtual machines, and in response todetermining that the generation time of the problem report is within asensitivity time window, identifying a problem ticket associated withthe problem entry and consolidating the problem associated with theproblem report into the identified problem ticket. The method mayfurther comprise, in response to determining that the problem associatedwith the problem report does not exist, adding the problem report as anew problem entry, and generating a new problem ticket associated withthe problem report.

A system for consolidating problem tickets for a multi-tieredapplication, in one aspect, may comprise a ticket consolidator moduleoperable to execute on the processor and further operable to identify aplurality of application components of the multi-tiered application,identify problem reports generated by one or more of the plurality ofapplication components of the multi-tiered application and caused by afailure of a same single component of the multi-tiered application, andconsolidate the identified problem reports into a single ticket.

A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructionsexecutable by a machine to perform one or more methods described hereinalso may be provided.

Further features as well as the structure and operation of variousembodiments are described in detail below with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicateidentical or functionally similar elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview diagram illustrating example multi-tieredapplications and a ticket consolidation mechanism of the presentdisclosure in one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an overview diagram illustrating example multi-tieredapplications in multiple VM environment and a ticket consolidationmechanism of the present disclosure in one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a ticket consolidation mechanismin one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a methodology of ticket consolidation in detail inone embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an architectural diagram illustrating ticket consolidationsystem in one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic of an example computer or processingsystem that may implement the ticket consolidation system in oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In a virtualized environment, several operating system (OS) images orVMs may be executed concurrently on the same physical server. Also,enterprises may run multi-tiered enterprise applications. For example,an application may use WebSphere™, DB2™, and an Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP) server for its functions; A single DB2™ may interactwith multiple WebSphere™ clients. Each of these applications may beexecuted in a separate VM. A failure on any of these applicationcomponents can affect the whole application. A single failure can causeseveral servers to report problems, each open problem ticket to behandled by system administrators. In one embodiment of the presentdisclosure, tickets that have the same or similar root cause of problemsfrom multiple systems may be consolidated. Fixing the root cause oncemay resolve those multiple tickets. Thus, the methodology of the presentdisclosure that addresses problem tickets caused by the same failure ina compute environment can save unnecessary work of systemadministrators.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adescription on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recitedherein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present disclosure are capable of being implementedin conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

In one aspect, a methodology is disclosed that correlates the ticketinformation about executing multi-tiered applications. Problems, e.g.,runtime problems occurring in a computing environment may be reportedand problem tickets may be opened to address the problems. A ticketconsolidator may analyze problem reports, and identify problem ticketsthat belong to different tiers of a single application, and identifyrelated problem tickets which are caused by dependency between theseapplications. The related tickets reporting different problems relatedto failure of the same part of a single multi-tiered application may beconsolidated into a single representative problem ticket, which may begiven a higher priority, and entered into a problem ticket handlingsystem.

FIG. 1 is an overview diagram illustrating example multi-tieredapplications and a ticket consolidation mechanism of the presentdisclosure in one embodiment. A multi-tier application runs multipleapplication component, for example, across different physical and/orvirtual machines. For example, enterprise software application may bebroken down to different layers such as presentation layer, businesslogic layer and data layer. FIG. 1, for example, illustrates amulti-tier application with a client layer 102, server logic layer 104and database layer 106, which may be divided into discrete logical partsand executed across different physical machines and/or virtual machines.A failure on any one of an application component or layer may impact theentire application, and two or more application components may reportproblems, which for example, are problems resulting from the same rootcause because of their dependencies. A ticket consolidator 108 of thepresent disclosure in one embodiment may monitor and track problemreports that are generated in the different components 102, 104, 106,identify correlated components and consolidate problem tickets from thecorrelated components.

FIG. 2 illustrates example multi-tiered applications in multiple VMenvironment and a ticket consolidation mechanism of the presentdisclosure in one embodiment. A VM at 204 may run both a clientcomponent and server component of an application, while another VM at210 may run a database component which the application componentsrunning on VM at 204 may access. Another example architecture of amulti-tiered application is illustrated by VMs at 206, 212 and 210. Aclient component of an application may run on a VM at 206, whichcommunicates with a server component of the application running on a VMat 212. The server component of the application running on a VM at 212in turn communicates a database application running on yet another VM at210. In another example multi-tier application architecture, a VM at 208runs a client component, server component, and a database component ofthe application in the same VM. A ticket consolidator 202 of the presentdisclosure in one embodiment may monitor and track problem reports thatare generated in the different components, identify correlated VMs andconsolidate problem tickets from the correlated VMs. For instance, theVM at 204, the VM at 206 and the VM at 210 may be identified ascorrelated since the applications running on VM at 204, the applicationrunning on VM at 206, and the application running on VM at 212 alldirectly or indirectly have dependencies on the database applicationrunning on VM at 210. A problem occurring in VM at 210 may also triggerproblems to be reported at those correlated VMs. The ticket consolidator202 of the present disclosure may consolidate those problem reports intoa single ticket.

As another example, a failure in one component of the application on VMat 208 may also cause a failure in another component on the same VM at208, and trigger problem reports to be generated from two or more ofthose components, even though the root cause of the problem may be thesame. The ticket consolidator 202 of the present disclosure may identifyproblem reports from multiple components that have the same root causeand consolidate the problems into a single ticket.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a ticket consolidation mechanismin one embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, consolidationtickets generated due to an error on multi-tiered application. At 302VMs handling multiple components of the same application are tracked.For example, VMs are identified that are running one or more of themultiple components of a single application, and those VMs may becorrelated. In another example, if multiple components are running on asingle VM, those components are identified as correlated.

At 304, problem reports or like events generated by those identified VMsor components are monitored. For example, if one component experiences aproblem or failure, such problem or failure may cause other componentsto report problems as well.

At 306, problem reports are identified that are caused by the failure ofa single component of the related multi-tiered components. This may bedone, for instance, by performing a root cause analysis for each of theproblem reports.

At 308, the identified problem reports are consolidated into a singleticket. For instance, a ticket is generated that consolidates theidentified problem reports. Examples of types of problems which can beconsolidated may include but are not limited to a database (e.g., DB2™)hanging or running slowly, and one or more servers (WebSphere™)reporting network timeout.

At 310, the ticket is placed into a ticket reporting and handlingsystem.

FIG. 4 illustrates a methodology of ticket consolidation in detail inone embodiment of the present disclosure. At 402, a list of VMidentifiers (IDs) that are correlated is generated. For instance, a VMmay be identified as being correlated to another VM, if the former runsan application that has dependency on, or communicate with, anotherapplication run on the latter, or vice verse. Those VMs need not berunning on the same hypervisor; Rather, they can be running acrossmultiple hypervisors. In addition, these VMs can be located on the sameor on different physical machines, and can run in multiple differentclusters.

At 404, operations in the computing environment are monitored. At 406, aproblem report generated in the computing environment is detected. Theproblem report may be an alert or an event or the like generated by asystem motoring module. At 408, it is determined whether there exists aproblem entry similar to the problem report detected, associated with acorrelated VM. If it is determined that a problem entry for a correlatedVM exists, it is determined whether the time associated with the problementry is within a sensitivity window at 410. The sensitivity window maybe a threshold specifying a time window, a time range or period. Thesensitivity window is configurable and/or programmable in oneembodiment, for example, depending on the type of problem.

In one aspect, as an example, a data structure table may be generatedand utilized for determining correlated VMs, existing problem entriesassociated with the correlated VMs, and comparing time sensitivitywindows.

If the problem entry's time is within the sensitivity window,information associated with the detected problem report is added to aproblem ticket associated with the problem entry, and the ticket'spriority is increased at 414. The logic proceeds to 404 to continue themonitoring.

If the problem entry's time is not within the sensitivity window, theproblem entry is updated with a new time stamp and symptom associatedwith the detected problem report. The logic proceeds to 418, where aproblem ticket associated with the updated problem entry is opened.

If it is determined that a problem entry for a correlated VM does notexist, the problem report is added at 412, for instance, into a databaseof problem reports. At 418, a ticket is opened for the problem entry.

Example data structures may include a table that lists correlated activeVMs handling different components of a multi-tier application. The tablemay record VM identifiers and associated hypervisors. The same oranother table may record dependencies among different components runningon different VMs. Yet another table (referred to as a problem reportstable) may list problem reports or problems reported by those VMs. Suchproblem reports table may track an event, problem symptom, and timestamp (e.g., the time the problem report was generated) associated witha reported problem. It should be understood that different datastructures may be utilized for keeping records of correlated VMs,application components, problem reports and associated information.

The problem reports table may be checked and updated for each newlygenerated problem report. If there is an existing entry for a componentapplication or VM with the correlated symptom recorded in the table, andits time stamp is within sensitivity time window, the problem report maybe consolidated into the existing entry, and the ticket associated withthe existing entry may be updated to include the information associatedwith the problem report.

If not, a new entry associated with the problem report is added to theproblem reports table. A ticket may be generated for this problem reportand placed into the ticket reporting and handling system for appropriateaction by a system administrator or the like.

FIG. 5 is an architectural diagram illustrating ticket consolidationsystem in one embodiment of the present disclosure. A computingenvironment may include one or more physical machines, e.g., 510, 504. Aphysical machine 510 may run a hypervisor 514, which can have aplurality of virtual machines 512 running on the hypervisor 514.Similarly, a physical machine 504 may run a hypervisor 508, which canhave a plurality of virtual machines 506 running on the hypervisor 508.Various monitoring modules may monitor a computing environment viarespective probes. Monitoring modules may include, but are not limitedto, a server hardware monitoring module 516, which for example, maymonitor server hardware for performance, problems or any other eventsrelated to the computing environment's server hardware; an operatingsystem/hypervisor monitoring module 518 that may monitor one or moreoperating systems and hypervisors; a guest VM monitoring module 520 thatmay monitor VMs; a network monitoring module 522 that may monitornetwork elements and traffic; and a storage monitoring module 524 thatmay monitor storage devices and related performance and traffic. Thosevarious monitoring modules may look for problems, determine what ishappening in the system with respect to the devices that the monitoringmodules are monitoring, and may generate one or more events and/or logsrelated to their monitoring, e.g., if abnormal behavior is detected.Those monitoring modules may also automatically generate problemtickets. The generated events and/or logs may be stored in storage 530,for example, a data warehouse or another storage.

Event aggregation and correlation module 526 may receive the eventsand/or logs from one or more monitoring modules, identify problematicevents and/or logs and send those events that are determined to beabnormal events, for instance, those that indicate behavior of thedevices that might signal a problem to an incident management system528. Similarly, a ticketing system module 530 may also generate one ormore events or problem logs based on customer reports and send the oneor more events to the incident management system 528. The incidentmanagement system 528 may create tickets associated with the events itreceives, and open the tickets, for instance, to be handled by a systemadministrator or the like.

A ticket consolidator 502 of the present disclosure monitors events orproblem reports received from the monitoring modules (e.g., 516, 518,520, 522, 524) and identifies those from a multi-tiered application,e.g., cause by a component of in the multi-tiered application, andconsolidate them as discussed above.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic of an example computer or processingsystem that may implement the ticket consolidation system in oneembodiment of the present disclosure. The computer system is only oneexample of a suitable processing system and is not intended to suggestany limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments ofthe methodology described herein. The processing system shown may beoperational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with the processing system shown in FIG. 6 may include,but are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computersystems, thin clients, thick clients, handheld or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes,programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems,mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computing environmentsthat include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

The computer system may be described in the general context of computersystem executable instructions, such as program modules, being executedby a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines,programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.The computer system may be practiced in distributed cloud computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloudcomputing environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote computer system storage media including memory storage devices.

The components of computer system may include, but are not limited to,one or more processors or processing units 12, a system memory 16, and abus 14 that couples various system components including system memory 16to processor 12. The processor 12 may include a ticket consolidatormodule 10 that performs the methods described herein. The module 10 maybe programmed into the integrated circuits of the processor 12, orloaded from memory 16, storage device 18, or network 24 or combinationsthereof.

Bus 14 may represent one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system may include a variety of computer system readable media.Such media may be any available media that is accessible by computersystem, and it may include both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media.

System memory 16 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) and/or cachememory or others. Computer system may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 18 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(e.g., a “hard drive”). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive forreading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk(e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from orwriting to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM,DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such instances, eachcan be connected to bus 14 by one or more data media interfaces.

Computer system may also communicate with one or more external devices26 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 28, etc.; one ormore devices that enable a user to interact with computer system; and/orany devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computersystem to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Suchcommunication can occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 20.

Still yet, computer system can communicate with one or more networks 24such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN),and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 22. Asdepicted, network adapter 22 communicates with the other components ofcomputer system via bus 14. It should be understood that although notshown, other hardware and/or software components could be used inconjunction with computer system. Examples include, but are not limitedto: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external diskdrive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storagesystems, etc.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages, a scripting language such as Perl, VBS or similarlanguages, and/or functional languages such as Lisp and ML andlogic-oriented languages such as Prolog. The program code may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The computer program product may comprise all the respective featuresenabling the implementation of the methodology described herein, andwhich—when loaded in a computer system—is able to carry out the methods.Computer program, software program, program, or software, in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: (a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; and/or (b) reproduction in a differentmaterial form.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements, if any, in the claims below areintended to include any structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of the present invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

Various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied as a program,software, or computer instructions embodied in a computer or machineusable or readable medium, which causes the computer or machine toperform the steps of the method when executed on the computer,processor, and/or machine. A program storage device readable by amachine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by themachine to perform various functionalities and methods described in thepresent disclosure is also provided.

The system and method of the present disclosure may be implemented andrun on a general-purpose computer or special-purpose computer system.The terms “computer system” and “computer network” as may be used in thepresent application may include a variety of combinations of fixedand/or portable computer hardware, software, peripherals, and storagedevices. The computer system may include a plurality of individualcomponents that are networked or otherwise linked to performcollaboratively, or may include one or more stand-alone components. Thehardware and software components of the computer system of the presentapplication may include and may be included within fixed and portabledevices such as desktop, laptop, and/or server. A module may be acomponent of a device, software, program, or system that implements some“functionality”, which can be embodied as software, hardware, firmware,electronic circuitry, or etc.

The embodiments described above are illustrative examples and it shouldnot be construed that the present invention is limited to theseparticular embodiments. Thus, various changes and modifications may beeffected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A system for consolidating problem tickets for amulti-tiered application, comprising: a processor; and a ticketconsolidator module operable to execute on the processor and furtheroperable to identify a plurality of application components of themulti-tiered application, identify problem reports generated by one ormore of the plurality of application components of the multi-tieredapplication and caused by a failure of a same single component of themulti-tiered application, and consolidate the identified problem reportsinto a single ticket, wherein the ticket consolidator consolidates bydetermining whether a problem associated with the identified problemreports exist as a problem entry associated with the multi-tieredapplication and determining whether generation times of the problemreports are within a sensitivity time window with respect to the problementry associated with the multi-tiered application, and in response todetermining that the generation time of the problem report is within asensitivity time window, identifying the single ticket associated withthe problem entry and consolidating the problem associated with theproblem reports into the single ticket, and in response to determiningthat the generation times of the problem reports are not within thesensitivity time window with respect to the problem entry, updating theproblem entry with a new timestamp and information associated with theproblem reports, and opening a new ticket associated with the updatedproblem entry.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the ticket consolidatormodule is further operable to place the single ticket into a tickethandling system.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the ticketconsolidator module is further operable to perform a root cause analysisof one or more problems reported in the problem reports to identify theproblem reports that are caused by a failure of a same single componentof the multi-tiered application.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theticket consolidator module is operable to consolidate the identifiedproblem reports into a single ticket in response to determining that theidentified problem reports were generated within a defined time window.5. The system of claim 1, wherein the defined time window isconfigurable.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein two or more theplurality of application components of the multi-tiered application eachrun on a different virtual machine, and wherein the ticket consolidatormodule is operable to monitor problem reports generated from saiddifferent virtual machine.
 7. A computer readable storage medium storinga program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method ofconsolidating problem tickets for a multi-tiered application,comprising: identifying a plurality of correlated virtual machines thatare running one or more application components of the multi-tieredapplication; identifying problem reports generated by one or more of theplurality of correlated virtual machines and caused by a failure of asame single component of the multi-tiered application; consolidating theidentified problem reports into a single ticket; and placing the singleticket into a ticket handling system, the consolidating comprisingdetermining whether a problem associated with the identified problemreports exist as a problem entry associated with one or more of theplurality of correlated virtual machines and determining whethergeneration times of the problem reports are within a sensitivity timewindow with respect to the problem entry associated with one or more ofthe plurality of virtual machines, and in response to determining thatthe generation time of the problem report is within a sensitivity timewindow, identifying the single ticket associated with the problem entryand consolidating the problem associated with the problem reports intothe single ticket, and in response to determining that the generationtimes of the problem reports are not within the sensitivity time windowwith respect to the problem entry, updating the problem entry with a newtimestamp and information associated with the problem reports, andopening a new ticket associated with the updated problem entry.
 8. Thecomputer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the identifying theproblem reports that are caused by a failure of a same single componentof the multi-tiered application comprises performing a root causeanalysis of one or more problems reported in the problem reports.
 9. Thecomputer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the consolidatingthe identified problem reports into a single ticket comprisesconsolidating the identified problem reports into a single ticket inresponse to determining that the identified problem reports weregenerated within a defined time window.
 10. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 9, wherein the defined time window isconfigurable.
 11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7,wherein the plurality of correlated virtual machines run acrossdifferent hypervisors.
 12. The computer readable storage medium of claim7, wherein the correlated virtual machines are identified based on oneor more dependencies existing among said one or more applicationcomponents running on said virtual machines.
 13. A computer readablestorage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machineto perform a method of consolidating problem tickets for a multi-tieredapplication, comprising: identifying a plurality of applicationcomponents of the multi-tiered application; identifying problem reportsgenerated by one or more of the plurality of application components ofthe multi-tiered application and caused by a failure of a same singlecomponent of the multi-tiered application; and consolidating theidentified problem reports into a single ticket, the consolidatingcomprising determining whether a problem associated with the identifiedproblem reports exist as a problem entry associated with themulti-tiered application and determining whether generation times of theproblem reports are within a sensitivity time window with respect to theproblem entry associated with the multi-tiered application, and inresponse to determining that the generation time of the problem reportis within a sensitivity time window, identifying the single ticketassociated with the problem entry and consolidating the problemassociated with the problem reports into the single ticket, and inresponse to determining that the generation times of the problem reportsare not within the sensitivity time window with respect to the problementry, updating the problem entry with a new timestamp and informationassociated with the problem reports, and opening a new ticket associatedwith the updated problem entry.
 14. The computer readable storage mediumof claim 13, further comprising placing the single ticket into a tickethandling system.
 15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the identifying the problem reports that are caused by a failureof a same single component of the multi-tiered application comprisesperforming a root cause analysis of one or more problems reported in theproblem reports.
 16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the consolidating the identified problem reports into a singleticket comprises consolidating the identified problem reports into asingle ticket in response to determining that the identified problemreports were generated within a defined time window.
 17. The computerreadable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the defined time window isconfigurable.
 18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the identifying the problem reports that are caused by a failureof a same single component of the multi-tiered application comprisesperforming ticket correlation of one or more problems reported in theproblem reports.